The Fox River Pavilion, a care facility in Aurora, recently received several Type “A” Violations from the Illinois Department of Public Health and was fined $20,000. The violations resulted from failure to provide proper facilities for its residents and allowing another resident to physically attack several others in the facility in a particularly egregious form of nursing home negligence.

First, the nursing home was failed to provide basic accommodations—a suitable bed—for one of its residents. This particular resident was 6 feet, 8 inches tall. The bed that he was forced to sleep in, however, was too short, forcing his head to hit the top of the bed stand. In addition, he was not allowed sheets of sufficient size to cover his entire body. Besides that, IIllinois nursing home investigators uncovered troubling information about a particularly violent male resident who physically attacked several female residents at Fox Pavilion.

These violations are not the first signs of trouble at Fox River. Earlier this year a resident at the facility was killed after an argument between himself and his roommate. Nursing home administrators failed to prevent the altercation. As a result of the deadly incident, federal authorities stopped its government funding of the facility.

Our Chicago nursing home lawyers at Levin & Perconti have experience fighting for victims of negligent nursing home care. Be sure to contact them or any similar attorney if you know of violations similar to the one at Fox River Pavilion.

The Illinois Department of Health produces quarterly reports on nursing home violators. To access the IDPH report on this violation, please click the link.

Fox River Pavilion, a nursing home in Aurora, IL, may become the second Illinois nursing home to lose its license in recent months. According to a report in the Belleville News Democrat, Illinois Department of Public Health regulators have fined the nursing home over $30,000 recently because of allegations that the nursing home failed to provide proper supervision to its residents. The nursing home housed many younger residents who suffer from significant mental illnesses and many of the home’s residents have been relocated to other facilities since the home lost its Medicaid funding.

The IDPH investigations and subsequent actions to revoke the nursing home’s license stem from an incident in December in which a resident was killed after an altercation with another resident. According to the News Democrat article, a third resident of the nursing home told IDPH investigators that the victim cried for help for twenty minutes but the Fox River Pavilion staff failed to respond. The victim died from a heart problem, but also suffered a fractured knee and bloodied face in the fight. The negligent nursing home was also alleged to have allowed a resident to consume toilet paper, tissues and surgical gloves, and a resident with suicidal tendencies was allowed access to razor blades that she used to injure herself.

Chicago nursing home lawyers understand that when nursing home corporations do not sufficiently staff their facilities, there is a higher risk for residents to become victims of nursing home abuse and neglect. Without the proper staffing ratios, even the most dedicated direct care givers cannot provide the care and attention that most nursing home residents need. In order to ensure resident safety and well-being, it is essential for nursing homes to employ sufficient and well-trained staff that can supervise and care for every resident in their care. To read more about the IDPH’s actions to revoke the Aurora nursing home license, click the link.

The Chicago Tribune is reporting that the family of a disabled woman has filed a nursing home negligence lawsuit against the Fox River Pavilion nursing home in Aurora, Illinois. The lawsuit also includes a nursing home resident who is alleged to have sexually assaulted the disabled victim. The nursing home lawsuit alleges that the 39 year old aggressor sexually assaulted and beat the victim in his room at the Aurora nursing home. This patient had been arrested multiple times and is suffering from bipolar disorder. The nursing home lawsuit claims that the staff should have more closely monitored this aggressor and failed to treat his anti-social behavior. It describes the victim as “bruised, battered and bloodied.” The man is now being held in jail on eight counts of aggravated criminal sexual assault and battery. The Fox River Pavilion has been threatened by state and federal officials that their funding may be terminated.

This is a grave example of the violence that keeps occurring in Illinois nursing homes when older residents are mixed with those younger residents suffering from mental illness. Many times the nursing home staff does not have the proper training or resources to specifically care for the growing needs of the mentally ill population. Currently, the Illinois nursing home task force is working to create a better system for those people living in nursing homes with severe mental illness. If your loved one is experiencing difficulties at a mixed nursing home please consult a Chicago nursing home lawyer. To read more about this specific case, please click the link.

Illinois and federal authorities have stopped funding to the Fox River Pavilion nursing home in Aurora Illinois. This occurred after a series of violent incidents that included the wrongful death of one resident in a fight. State investigators believe that a lack of staffing contributed to the resident-on-resident attacks at the 98-resident nursing home in Aurora. They found that the staff failed to properly monitor and treat aggressive mentally ill felons housed there. The problem of inadequate staffing has become widespread in Illinois. Illinois has the highest ratio of mentally ill patients housed with the elderly. Many of these psychiatric patients have felony records.

A Chicago Tribune investigation has revealed that the nursing homes with the most felons also have the fewest nursing home staff employees. Fox River Pavilion housed 26 felons and had a ratio of nursing home staff to patients “well below average” than desired. During the wrongful death residents said that no staff were present to control the incident. This termination marks the second time in one month that Medicare and Medicaid Services has cut off funding of an Illinois nursing home. The state has also moved to decertify the Somerset Place nursing home in Chicago.

The Chicago injury attorneys at Levin & Perconti believe that nursing home staffing levels are one of the most important issues that plague modern day facilities. In order to combat nursing home negligence there needs to be a number of well-trained staff members that are employed 24-hours a day. If you believe that a loved one has been injured in a nursing home due to insufficient staffing numbers, please consult an Illinois nursing home abuse lawyer. To read more about this Illinois nursing home, losing funding, follow the link.

Aurora police ordered toxicology tests this weekend to investigate the suspicious death of a 57-year-old nursing home resident who died last week at Fox River Pavilion. According to the Chicago Tribune, authorities performed an autopsy on Saturday, but the results did not show any "signs or injuries that would explain his death." The nursing home resident died shortly after getting into a fight with his roommate at the home. To read the full story of this Fox River Pavilion death, click the link.

Fox River Pavilion has received a Type “A” Violation relating to the area of nursing home negligence was fined $5,000. This violation was based on the home’s lack of employee oversight and inability to implement a proper smoking plan.

The Illinois Department of Health produces quarterly reports on nursing home violators. To access the violation website, please click the link.

A resident in an Aurora Illinois nursing home facility identified as a suicide risk was placed in a room on the forth floor with an open window. He jumped from the window and died. Suicide risks are not to be left alone and should be given a room on the first floor according to the facilities own suicide prevention policy. The resident’s fourth floor room was the furthest from the nurses’ station. The resident was admitted to the facility the day before and the staff was told by the resident’s physician to implement suicide precautions.

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The purpose of this blog is to deliver news and information that is relevant to our areas of practice. The news and information reported on this blog represent the legal actions of attorneys throughout the United States. Our firm does not claim to represent plaintiffs in all of the lawsuits, settlements, and jury verdicts reported, only those noted as Levin & Perconti cases.